


Another Way to Die

by voices_in_my_head



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-26
Updated: 2012-04-26
Packaged: 2017-11-04 09:12:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/392178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voices_in_my_head/pseuds/voices_in_my_head
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You think I don’t know the meaning of life?”</p><p>“Oh, I know that you know that. You just don’t know the meaning of death."</p><p> </p><p>Hela comes for a visit to her father before he's taken to Odin.</p><p>*May contain movies spoilers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Way to Die

**Author's Note:**

> This came to me while I was watching the movie and I just couldn't let it go. I don't know much about Hela, so I've created my own. Here, she is the goddess of Death, all dead people come to her, and when she talks about her time coming up or that the millenium has just begun, it's because I've made it so she can only leave the underworld every thousand yeards for one day. I may write a second chapter from Thor's POV with more details. We'll see.
> 
> This takes place before Thor takes Loki with him to Odin, right at the end of the movie.

The last time Hela had stepped her feet on Earth had been years ago, when the Greeks gods were still worshiped, when women were seen as slaves, when things such as having somebody killed for robbery or being a bastard were normal. She had to admit she didn’t have the best memories of this planet and it didn’t seem this trip was about to change it.

Tracking down Loki wasn’t difficult, both of them were magical beings and, most important, shared a blood bound. Unfortunately, she could also sense her uncle in the same room, as other humans, two stronger than your average human being.

When she finally found the building they were in she found a tower with an A hanging on it. It was obvious there were supposed to be others letters besides it but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

There were some numbers besides the door, which, she knew, were expecting some sort of number code to open. Instead, she put a finger on it and sent some energy into it. The door opened.

She wasn’t familiar with human’s technology, after all she lived in the underworld, but she knew the basics, had seen enough memories of it. Every day more humans arrived to her only thinking of the computer and forgetting human relations. She felt disgusted. The humans possessed a very small number of years to live, something they were aware, but still didn’t care until it was too late. It was the reason she hadn’t given a second opportunity to a human in a long time.

She walked towards an elevator, clicking the top floor without looking around except for a quick look of disgust towards all this technology. Humans weren’t a very old race, there wasn’t a doubt about it, but if they continued like this, they wouldn’t be remembered for much longer after they perished. If this was a land that produced no children, no innocents, she knew she wouldn’t be here. Hell, she probably would be helping her father.

The elevator had a mirror and she looked at it while she waited for the box of metal to stop. She had thrown a charm around her so the part of her face that was relatively normal could be also in the other side. She was only herself in the underworld.

She knew she looked in that moment more than Loki than ever with green eyes, black hair, and too symmetric face, not to mention her clothes. She was wearing a simple black dress that covered her shoes with a green coat on top of it.

It wasn’t that she wanted to impress any of the humans but she knew that there was nothing that humanity loved more than beauty.

When the elevator finally stopped there were several men and a woman waiting for her, all with weapons on their hands, or in somebody’s case, wearing a metal suit.

She saw Thor’s eyes widening and his hand with the hammer go down, “Hela. You shouldn’t be here.”

She lifted one eyebrow, “and why not, uncle? The millennium has only started one hundred and fifty three years ago. This is the first time I’ve left my kingdom since it began.”

She saw the humans exchange looks between them but she didn’t focus on their faces, instead analyzing. Seeing if there was a reason her father had been beaten by them.

There were two humans, the woman and the man with the arrow, who she felt were stronger than the average human, but nothing that she couldn’t beat. There was the man in the iron suit who, she knew, without it would be the easiest of them all to kill. Then there were the two humans, if they could be called that, that she had felt before. One of them was wearing a ridicule suit, even to Asgardian standers, and had only a shield on his left hand. Still, she could see how a fight with him would be fun. The last one was wearing a gun in one hand but she could see that wasn’t what made him dangerous. There was something there, something hidden. Something she couldn’t wait to find out what it did.

The humans had been saying something while she looked them over and Thor had his hammer back up when she finally found her father.

He was resting against a wall, not looking particularly ill, and looking at her with those green eyes so like hers.

She gave two steps to come to stand in front of him but was stopped by the man with the arrows and the iron one.

She lifted a brow, “do you really believe you stand a chance against the goddess of Death?”

It was obvious her identity was news to the men and she couldn’t stop the smirk from entering her face.

The iron man was the first to speak, “we’ve already beaten one god, do you really believe we can’t go against you? Of course, we’re feeling a bit tired, it has been a long day, so maybe we could do this another time?”

Her smirk grew. Oh, a fight with these humans would certainly be fun. She pushed her head a bit further, “yes, well, Loki can’t kill you with a touch of his finger, now can he?” She got back to her full form, “besides, I don’t think that next time I can do this you’ll be around.”

“Is that a threat?”

She laughed, “no, it’s a fact.”

“Hela, just tell us why you’re here.”

“Why do you think? I wish to speak to my father.”

Thor had already told the humans of their connection if the lack of surprise on their faces was anything to go by. What a shame, the shock expression had always been one of her favorites.

“And why should we?” The woman asked, pointing two guns towards her chest.

“First, because if you don’t, I’ll kill you, and let me tell you, when it comes to me, dying really is the last thing you want, and second, I just want to speak with him.”

“About what?” Thor asked.

She turned on him with anger on her eyes. She was normally a very calm person; after all she was a goddess who has lived more years than someone would believe, but there were things that she couldn’t handle without it showing outside.

“Why should you? Do not pretend to be better than my father,” she turned on the others, “none of you can pretend that.” She saw they were about to speak so she walked one step further and turned to the woman, “you and that man with the arrows are killers, and do not tell me the men you killed were bad, because what about the people you killed to get to them?” She turned to the man with the gun, “I don’t think that I really have to tell you how many lives have been lost because of you, now have I?” She turned to the one with the shield, “you’ve killed soldiers, and don’t pretend that because it was in war’s time it makes it alright. I can take you with me and show you exactly how many lives there’s in the underworld because of the ‘love for their country’,” she told him with sarcasm dripping of the last words. “What about you, iron man? No, that isn’t your name. You’re Stark, I remember you. You’re in a lot of soldier’s memories; some even remembered when you decided to stop making weapons. But I don’t recall ever hearing how you apologized for the lives that your guns took.”

She walked towards Thor, “and you. You’re older than the human race, but exactly how long ago did you learn what responsibility actually means? You’ve killed thousands in your crazy wars, half of them, I’m sure you don’t even remember. But still, you got a second chance.” She gave a last look to all of them, “all of you together have killed more people than my father.”

Then she walked towards her father and kissed him in the forhead.

“Well, that was certainly a show,” he said in the magic language. Words that would mean nothing to those around them.

“I deal with death every day, there is nobody that knows more about the value of a life than me. And that is why I’m here. To show you.”

He flashed her an angry look, “you think I don’t know the meaning of life?”

“Oh, I know that you know that. You just don’t know the meaning of death,” without waiting for an answer she put her fingers on his temple and closed her eyes.

Every day she received thousands of deaths from all worlds, she was used to it. Or as much as one person was supposed to get used. Still, there were times when she wished with all her strength she didn’t have this burden. When wars happened; wars that were forgotten years later. Wars that didn’t teach anything. Wars that killed innocents.

She showed him when the victims of his attack in New York started arriving; when mothers looking for their sons started showing, husbands without their better half; children without somebody to look to. She especially showed them how they still had life in them. They had died without expecting; without knowing there was a danger. She showed him the regrets that followed the discovery of being dead.

When she had gone through the hundreds that had died she opened her eyes.

Her father still had his closed, and she could see a lonely tear falling from his right one. She put her forehead on his and they stayed like this for a while.

“Thank you,” he whispered to her.

She let go of him and gave him a sad smile, “you’re welcome. I didn’t do this to make you feel bad, I did it because you, like everybody, needed a lesson.”

“Even Odin?” He asked with a sad smile and she couldn’t help the anger that went into her answer.

“Especially Odin.” She then turned to Thor, “Frigga went to me years ago, asking me to show you the meaning of death. To bring you to see the ones that you slayed, but I knew that wouldn’t work. You would feel regret but not for longer, not enough for you to change yours ways. So I did nothing and you learned. My father is younger so I think it’s only fair that it takes him longer.” She started walking away.

“My time is ending and I want to see some places before I go. Oh,” she turned back to Thor, “tell Odin that I’m claiming his debt.”

She gave one last smile to her father and then she disappeared.

She had given all this years to Odin, years that he shouldn’t have. They both knew that is life wasn’t enough to pay for it, that if they wanted to be even she would take Frigga with her. And maybe Thor, she had some math to do.

She had learned that not everybody deserved a second chance, especially when it came to life. But then again, they were gods, they had thousands of years to change their ways and if they didn’t… well, she wasn’t called the goddess of Death for nothing.


End file.
